(DailyVantage.com) – Republican Florida Representative Byron Donalds said recently that he believes that jurisdictions that take federal funds but do not protect the constitutional rights of all Americans” should stop receiving money from the federal government.
Donalds, who is reportedly among Trump’s choices for his yet-to-be-announced vice president, made the remarks in response to the recent conviction against the former president over fraud charges related to his supposed payoff of former adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Trump was accused of illegally dipping into his 2016 campaign funds to make the payoff in an attempt to supposedly buy Daniels’ silence over an affair between them – Trump has consistently denied having a relationship with Daniels or paying her off.
The Florida representative called on the Supreme Court to overturn the conviction, given that the intent of the lawsuit was to “interfere with an election.”
Donalds said that the former chief executive was understandably frustrated over the conviction, which the Florida representative said was a “violation of constitutional norms.” He also accused Judge Juan Merchan, the presiding judge in the case, of violating Trump’s constitutional rights. Donalds further claimed that Trump and his legal team were not informed of what crime the former president was being charged with.
“The only time the prosecution could even assert a crime was… in closing arguments,” which Donalds said was not allowed.
As such, Donalds said, jurisdictions like Manhattan, where Trump was convicted, should stop receiving federal funding.
Republicans in the legislature have struggled to better align their tough-on-crime approach – one also espoused by Trump – with many members of the GOP in Congress who are calling for budget cuts to agencies such as the Department of Justice and the FBI, which are a seeming echo of the “Defund the Police” slogans of progressive liberal activists that has been much-maligned by conservatives.
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